The Energy Answer

A comprehensive answer to, among other things, an inconvenient truth.

Name:
Location: Warren, Rhode Island, United States

In 1979 war broke out in the Middle East. At that time I was introduced to an idea that would solve that problem and worked to get it off the ground. 11 years later in 1990 war broke out in the Middle East and I passed out pamphlets promoting this solution. 11 years later in 2001 war broke out in the Middle East and since then I have been delivering a talk promoting an idea that will end this cycle of nonsense. The purpose of this Blog is to promote this idea in a different forum. I practice primary care medicine full time in Providence Rhode Island. I have no political affiliations and engage in these issues out of my own personal interest. If you have a group that you feel would be interested in hearing the talk on which this blog is based you can contact me at geoffberg@pol.net.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

A Bump in the Road to Recovery

Sometime next year we are going to notice that a funny thing happened on the way to the economic recovery; we got hit with a massive tax. The tax will be at least $400 billion dollars annually, about half of the one time stimulus package. However, instead of building electric grids and roads and paying policemen and teachers this revenue will fund such destructive enterprises as global terrorism, the Iranian nuclear program, and Russia’s rearmament. OPEC will impose the tax when our oil appetite returns and oil prices go back above $100/barrel.

However, there is a solution; it requires some foresight and political will on the part of the public. It requires that we understand that our American love affair with cheap oil is actually more like an abusive relationship. We need to get out.

The solution is as follows. Tax gasoline starting at $1/gallon and raising that $1/year until the tax is $3/gallon (revenues $450 billion). Rebate the tax at a flat rate to all consumers so that every man, woman, and child in America gets a check for approximately $1500/year. The rebate goes up or more probably down because the rebate solely comes from the revenues from the tax. However, under any circumstance, we have an energy policy at no net cost to the taxpayer.

The day such legislation is passed oil prices drop because we the people, not politicians or pundits, would be saying we are finally going to get serious about our abusive relationship with oil. The price would continue to drop because of the effect such a tax would have on demand. After say a $20 drop in the price of a barrel of oil the government says it will collect the next ten-dollar-a-barrel drop as a tax. (Essentially, OPEC would be paying the bill.) With that $50 to $70 billion/year we build a 21st century power grid, help American car manufacturers retool to build cars that get 75+ mpg, fund renewable energy research, and expand public transportation.
With such a plan, we could be free of imported oil by 2025 and free of oil in any form by 2040. With these billions re-channelled, we can finally get out of bed with the people who are trying to kill us, and cozy up with a healthy, homegrown relationship to energy—one that gives back at least as much as it takes.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Ruby said...

Dear Dr. Geoff Berg,

It’s a great pleasure to read your blog. I find your post very interesting. Your point is worth a thought and I hope there are a lot of people who can actually make a difference would be able to read and realize this.
As a reader, I consider your writing to be a great example of a quality and globally competitive output. It would be a great thrill and honor if you could share your genuine ideas and knowledge to our community, Physician Nexus. With this you can gain 1000 physician readers from over 62 countries on Nexus.
We would love for you to visit our community. It's free, takes seconds, and is designed for physicians only - completely free of industry bias and commercial interests.
Best,
Ruby Jean Abarcas
On behalf of the Physician Nexus Team
www.PhysicianNexus.com

7:12 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home